Clouds got in the way... Not anymore!

Obstacles are so annoying. They do, however, become good scape goats for not getting things done, right? The first verse of one of my all time favorite ballads: Both Sides Now; by: Joni Mitchell, uses clouds in a metaphor about obstacles. Those of you that know me well have come to realize; that it is often difficult for me to make an analogy about anything without throwing in a reference to a Joni Mitchell song. I digress. Mitchell discusses what we see in the clouds as children, when our innocent imaginations can go wild. Later on in life when our imaginations become more responsible, the clouds become things that: "rain and snow on everything." "Clouds got in the way," she wrote and sang.

Obstacles, whether they be clouds, red lights, low budget, or any number of things that may stand between us and what we want and need; are simply just things that we have to endure. As my birthday approches I think of so many things that I should have done from one year to the next. I feel like I have two New Year's: the real New Year on January 1, and the one on September 16. Each of these dates usually become times to celebrate and reflect for me. Without fail, there are always things that have kept me from doing this or that when I look back from one year to the next.

This year as my birthday approaches I feel a new self-improvement project coming on. Eliminating obstacles! I just feel like life is too short and too valuable to waste it letting things stop me. Instead of stopping when these boulders fall onto my path, if I can't climb over or go around them, I will be forced to bust them up and move them aside. Not so long ago, when I was a young kid running along life's path, overflowing with dreams and plans. There were no such things as obstacles in those ideas - nothing stopped me from dreaming big and reaching high. That said, I think it would be a waste of so much of my own time if I didn't reverse my own negative energy. I have to take all those negative thoughts about the things that stand in my way and use that energy on getting past them. Replacing complainging and quitting with action. All my little unfinished personal projects should definitely benefit from this new way of thinking.

I have a list a mile long of all the things that I want to do with my life and my time. For the most part I am pretty good at checking these things off my list, slowly but surely. As I begin to turn the page on my own year, more personally than ever I seek positivity, accomplishment, and peace. Everyone deserves that.

"Come with me and they won't see us for the dust!" Frank Lloyd Wright

Thiry Seven...and counting.

I called my parents this morning to wish them a happy anniversary - thirty seven years - not bad. We chit chatted fondly about this past weekend's activities, good meals and fond memories over the years. As we were talking via speaker phone, they both received simultaneous text messages from their grandchildren: "Happy Anniversary Nana and Poppy"." It often dons on me that time has taken our family over many milestones, and although thirty seven is not a culminating number like twenty five or thirty, it is telling.


My parents are two people who have seldom been apart throughout their long relationship. From dating to rearing children, they rarely were far from each other's sides. Forming their own unique bond that has been respected and appreciated by our extended family and friends throughout the decades. Carefully creating for my lovely sister and I, a safe place filled with love, ambition, and good times. I think of them today with the fondest of thoughts and thankfulness. Knowing that their devotion to each other has kept our family strong as a unit. Also knowing that without their love and guidance to me over the years, I would never have been the person that I am today.

Of course I will always have a special place in my heart for my parents…I think that is a given. Frankly, they make that so easy. Just by being the very special, steady and wonderful people that they are separately, and together. What a blessing.

From Austin, here's to thirty more!

Keep on keepin' on my Friend!

Sometimes when we have no idea what we are looking for we find exactly what we need. The last home I lived in while I was living in Nashville was nestled beside a golf course and a greenbelt in a neighborhood called Sylvan Park. I couldn't have been more pleased to live in this little nook within the city. One Sunday I was strolling along the green belt enjoying the crisp Spring air. The wild flowers were coming out in full, green and fresh, while the birds were chirping and the dew was being lifted by the morning sun. Looking in all directions I was trying to enjoy this urban oasis and while I did my eyes drew me to some color among the leaves just off the path. Watching my step I crept off the path to see what treasure might be out of my sight. There in the gleaming light of the morning sun was a tall columbine blooming in hues of yellow and orange. What a gift that day! That columbine could not have been more beautiful if I had nurtured it in my own yard, it was magnificent. I'll never forget that plant and it's untamed beauty and I kept it a secret in fear of someone trying to go out and dig it up or pick its blooms. As I stood there admiring it, I realized how important it is to let the road lead you sometimes and forget about what you are supposed to do. Do more than that - follow your heart.

Later that same year I moved to Austin, Texas and the year that followed would allow me to find so many things that would catch my eye. It began to feel like I was in a world wind of newness - again I had found myself off my beaten path. I learned a great deal about life and myself during that year and while I have always marched to the beat of my own drum, I found that Austin encouraged that. I was in fact following my heart more and more every day, as I became overwhelmed by new ideas, people and opportunities. One night I was at an event and was introduced to a woman there that I immediately connected with. A friend of a friend who had followed her heart to Austin and was testing the waters here. Her energy immediately put me at ease and the longer we talked the more we agreed that we should be friends. Over the next two years we met for brunches, lunches, dinners, and movie nights. We accompanied one another to events similar to the one where we met, we went to concerts together, took walks, met for drinks and even moved into the same neighborhood. We would find ourselves talking about life, our families, our friends, relationships, art, music and you name it we covered it in conversation. How little did we know that a handshake would lead to a friendship and a wealth of good times. I found that Dara was a fellow plant lover, that we both loved music, trying out new restaurants, and I also learned that she was as eager as I was to learn more about Austin. I suppose over the last couple of years if she and I haven't been there…it is not well advertised.

I believe that things happen for a reason. I knew when I met Dara that she was someone that I was suppose to know, and I don't know why. Just like that day on the greenbelt when I saw that beautiful columbine I will never forget, I will never forget Dara. We made fast friends and we wasted little time in getting to know each other. I learned that she was very good at helping me see another perspective on things. She also made home not feel so far away, when it did. We shared that - she had come from Atlanta, Georgia and was no stranger to Nashville - there was definitely a southern kinship. But more than all of these things, I feel like we were both searching for a new part of ourselves that we yearned to know and experience. We both love life and all its portals.

Recently Dara has decided to make her way back to Atlanta, and although I am sad to see her go, I know there is something left there that she is suppose to do. There is someone there that needs her spunk and her love to get them through a hard spot or show them the way, and she will! She is sure to be welcomed back by her friends with open arms and wished well by her many friends here. For what it's worth, coming from a new Austinite (although a proud one), you have graced the city with the exact type of vitality that its people crave. For you I hope that the path home is as adventurous as the one that brought you here. I hope that whatever is around that corner is magnificent and new. And of course, that the long road between the two will not make us strangers.

After all, life is like walking down a path; stopping all along the way to enjoy the scenery and take things in. Sometimes we stop and ask directions, sometimes we stop to take a break and enjoy the atmosphere, and sometimes we just keep on trucking. All the while knowing that something IS waiting around the next corner for us. If we do our best we will see everything that we are suppose to see on that path, we will leave no stone unturned and we will leave the path in better shape than we found it. I have been so blessed since mine and Dara's paths have crossed. She has changed my life with her uplifting and upbeat attitude. Dara your light shines brightly and may it always shine as you help lead others down the path.  All my best!

"Wrote a song about it, wanna hear it? Here it goes."

Waking up from a dream and looking at the clock to see that the late night had turned into early morning happens so many times. Helping hazy thoughts surface. Those that linger between sleep and awareness of being awake. I have effortlessly tossed things around that I know are the things that are always on my mind. Subtle thoughts that sometimes become prayers or something to laugh about. That is the way my mind works.


It's funny that it's always people that have intrigued me and over the years I have met some interesting people. Interesting people that have helped to make me interesting, if in fact I am. I know why that is to. With roots in a small town I have never met a stranger and in many ways I think I was trained to be that way. Later on in a college sociology class I learned that that I was not trained or taught but socialized. Words.

From my roots in Western Kentucky to Austin, Texas and all the places in between. The little pieces of life that I have left out there. All the times well spent, the laughs well laughed, all those people and all the words that I could use to describe them. Who thinks of things like this?

I was talking with someone a few nights ago who said something that really resonated with me. Something to the effect of: "If you don't have good friends what really matters?" And here I am being so damn considerate that I think to myself…"what about family?" But they are already there, from the very beginning and for life. Essentially we become so interconnected that even if we wanted to break ties it would be so difficult that we would probably just give in and stop. But friends on the other hand don't have all these ties going back to our birth. Those distant handshakes and introductions can be forgotten if need be. That particular thought make me even more happy that he said that. It almost validates my thoughts about life and things happening because they are supposed to at certain times and in certain places. And although this may not make a lot of sense…it does to me.

I guess some morning in the haze of another night's sleep I might think of my family and how they socialized me to want to meet people and know people. I mean really know them. People that would later become good friends of mine. Lifelong friends that sort of understand who I am and why I am the way I am. A cycle that we can be describe so simply but is so difficult. Life. Who could do it without friends?

Maybe I should write a song about it.

Happy New Year

From a balcony overlooking Lady Bird Lake, while fireworks boomed, I rang in another New Year among friends. As people cheered and yelled out when the clock struck midnight, I for once was at a loss for words. This year went by so fast and with each day new things, people and ideas came into my life. Joni Mitchell's brilliant song "Both Sides Now," describes it so well. "But now old friends are acting strange, they shake their heads they say I've changed. But something's lost and something's gained in living every day.

Of course I thought up some usual New Year's resolutions including aspirations to eat healthier, exercise more and save more money. Blah, Blah, Blah. I say that every year. But I go farther than that this time. One of my resolutions or goals this time is simple and should be easy to achieve. I hope that in 2011, more than any other year of my life I allow myself the freedom to experience more of the goodness this world has to offer. I am going to make a huge effort to infuse more of our local music into my schedule. I also hope that I can continue to meet awesome people that fill the homes and streets of this city. And this is just part of that list. However, with these continued additions it should be inevitable that my life improves and that I grow. That’s corny, right?

Yesterday afternoon I spent the day with a couple of friends downtown. The sun was shining and there were many laughs. At one point before the night ended I thought to myself - this is great. Life is suppose to be great , it can't be all of the time. How about most?

I welcome a GREAT 2011!